The Central African rock python kills its prey by constriction and often eats animals up to the size of antelope, occasionally even crocodiles.

[19] The Central African rock python's body is thick and covered with colored blotches, often joining up in a broad, irregular stripe.

[21][22][23] Pythons also possess two functioning lungs, unlike more advanced snakes, which have only one, and also have small, visible pelvic spurs, believed to be the vestiges of hind limbs.

[8] The Central African rock python inhabits a wide range of habitats, including forest, savanna, grassland, semidesert, and rocky areas.

[34][10] On March 1, 2017, a 3.9-m (12-ft 10-in) African rock python was filmed eating a large adult male spotted hyena weighing 70 kg (150 lb).

This encounter suggests that the snake might very well be capable of hunting and killing larger and more dangerous animals than previously thought.

[4] Central African rock pythons are oviparious, laying between 20 and 100 hard-shelled, elongated eggs in an old animal burrow, termite mound, or cave.

[6][7] The female shows a surprising level of maternal care, coiling around the eggs, protecting them from predators, and possibly helping to incubate them, until they hatch around 90 days later.

[6][21][7] The female guards the hatchlings for up to two weeks after they hatch from their eggs to protect them from predators in a manner unusual for snakes in general and pythons in particular.

[38] Documented attacks on humans are exceptionally rare, despite the species being common in many regions of Africa, and living in diverse habitats including those with agricultural activity.

As the mammalian and avian game populations are gradually depleted in the Congo Basin, the proportion of large-bodied snakes offered at rural bushmeat markets increases.

Consequently, a large proportion of the human population faces the threat of Armillifer armillatus infections, a python-borne zoonotic disease.

[52][53] The Central African rock python is still relatively common in many regions across Africa, and may adapt to disturbed habitats,[29] provided that food is available.

This species is heavily exploited throughout its West African range, particularly for bushmeat and leather, and high rates of decline have been reported within the region.

It is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, meaning international trade in Central African rock pythons should be carefully monitored and controlled,[30] giving wild populations some protection from overcollection for pets and skins.

The species is also likely to occur in a number of protected areas, such as the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, a World Heritage site.

This reverence is so deeply ingrained culturally that even Christians in these areas have not fully renounced the sacredness of the snake, and any harm to the Eke Njaba requires ritual cleansing or even a proper burial when killed, to avoid the deity's wrath.

[citation needed] This article incorporates text from the ARKive fact-file "Central African rock python" under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL.